


The Last Rose

by induratize



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, M/M, author does not condone nor support this type of relationship irl, canon divergence from ep 103 onwards, mentions of trauma, ratings and tags may change over time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-03-26 17:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19010806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/induratize/pseuds/induratize
Summary: Hostages are nothing more than subservient beings... or so that’s what he originally believed. So when a troublemaking AI appears to have left him for good, even Yusaku can’t deny that a part of himself vanished along with him, too.And then everything else comes crashing down on him. As his whole world flips on its axis, he is now forced to confront the truth as a mysterious man slowly rips his sanity apart.





	1. 0

  

“Revolver, I trust Ai.”

“I want him to live free. We may not have been able to save the other Ignis, but Ai still has a chance.”

 

x

 

Those were the last words Yusaku had said about the one he simultaneously referred to as his hostage and his partner. After their self-proclaimed contract had been fulfilled and the lock on the duel disk was finally off, Ai was a free AI. He had watched Ai sink into his duel disk and hadn't resurfaced once since Mirror LINK VRAINS had disappeared and the defeat of Bohman had returned the consciousness of his allies and everyone else lost in the virtual world.

Yusaku had no problem with Ai going back to the Cyberse World. While it was tragic that the Ignis were not able to regain their own lives after the final duel, at least Ai would still be able to return with Linkuriboh, the lone remaining companion native to him. Yusaku wasn’t entirely sure about Roboppy’s apparent decision to follow Ai back to the Cyberse World, but if Ai wanted to keep her around as company as it was no secret that the two had grown incredibly close, then there really wasn’t much Yusaku could do about losing his personal roomba to an AI, either.

“That would be 500 yen in total,” he told the customer at Café Nagi. “Thank you for always stopping by.” He then handed them their hotdog, neatly placed inside in a paper bag, and his tone significantly less monotone than before. He knew that he had gotten much better at preparing and handling food, both of which were naturally a given now that there was not much else to do and improve on. Most of his time was spent tending to the business at Kusanagi’s hot dog van while he was away on personal errands, or it was spent casually chatting with Takeru about school, or casually surfing the VRAINS Web.

The seconds, minutes, and hours continued to tick away, but his own utterances from before had quickly found a way to cling onto his heart. No matter how many times he tried to reassure himself that it was his decision to let him go, with each passing day they sounded less and less complete to him. Ever since Ai had left his duel disk, Yusaku still unconsciously found himself looking down at his wrist, expecting something to pop up and blurt out something downright absurd.

Like complaining about when the next soap opera was going to begin. He and Roboppy used to watch them together every Monday evening and the way Ai’s laughter would resonate through the room whenever they’d turn up the volume at the “exciting parts” used to grate on Yusaku’s nerves to no end. Now, never seeing the TV on anymore had become such a foreign sight. He was starting to miss Roboppy’s mindless chattering as well, as the consistent humming that emitted from her while she worked used to be the only source of comfort at home, reminding him that he wasn’t alone in such a cramped room.

Soon enough, he even stopped going home anytime during the day at all as the increasingly deafening silence in that small apartment room repeatedly refused to leave him alone.

It took him awhile to adjust to life without Ai, and for some unexplicable reason, it felt significantly more sombre this time than when he had returned to the Cyberse World after they had finally toppled the former Tower of Hanoi together.

It probably had to do with one of Ai’s last wishes to him with his talk about how he should never trying to stop making friends and bringing people together with bonds, moments before he sacrificed himself to the Neuron Link. The knowledge that the rest of the Ignis had been fully absorbed and were never coming back that he had now may have had something to do with it as well, for Yusaku didn’t even know about the other Ignis at the time.

And even after all of that he still didn’t really talk to anyone that much. There was a dull ache in his heart where Ai had been and when the rest of the Ignis had fallen, but if he felt this pain to this degree, then how did that compare to Ai’s?

Ai was a hostage, Yusaku thought. When and why did his absence start to feel like… a void in his heart that he thought was incapable of emotional sentiment?

 

x

 

It was just another sunny cloudless day, just like it had been every other day since the Ignis war had ended. After everyone’s stolen conscious were successfully restored and Mirror LINK VRAINS disappearing forever, it seemed that the peace of Den City had been restored once again.

Life went on for everyone else, and it seemed as though the whole Mirror LINK VRAINS fiasco hadn’t even happened. The full-screen LED billboards in the city’s central plaza were flipping through new images and breaking news of SOL’s newest technology on the SOL _tiS_ androids, day and night, basically at every chance they had. Everywhere he looked, people were ready to embrace these new changes without a second thought. Den City was rapidly progressing forward but Yusaku didn’t see this as wholly beneficial to the future of humankind.

But why was he jumping ahead? After all, he himself had yet to fully come to terms with what had happened to Ai and the Ignis.

Days had passed since Revolver had visited the Café Nagi, yet Yusaku couldn’t shake off the feeling that there may have been a possibility that he had been wrong about Ai and the Ignis all along. The way Revolver was glaring at him with those icy cold eyes, so piercing and determined to prove him wrong, that Yusaku didn’t want to admit his confidence had already been dissipating with each passing day. He wasn’t going to lie, he did not know nearly as much about the Ignis statistic-wise as Revolver did; he was not the one who had been studying and monitoring them for longer than half his lifetime.

He glanced over at Takeru, who had seemingly continued to live normally since that day. He no longer had Flame by his side, but he was chatting a lot more with Kusanagi now. He was also calling his childhood friend back home, a teenage girl named Kiku who was about the same age as them, several times a week. He came to mention Flame less by the end of every passing day, but when he did so he only had good memories of their time together to share. Like the time he almost crushed him with a briefcase, and coincidentally it happened on the same day they first met. Takeru said that Flame already had the intention to help him as his partner from that time on, despite never having seen his true form before and almost trying to flatten him with a briefcase.

 _But then, he always had a stronger relationship with Flame_ , Yusaku silently concluded. They had treated each other as equals from the day they met, from what he was told by Takeru and from when he had watched their last duel together. They had faith in each other and protected each other to the very end, while Yusaku even failed to convince Ai to not sacrifice himself to the Neuron Link.

_If Ai hadn’t so recklessly gotten himself in such a do-or-die situation, perhaps we would have eventually found a way to save his comrades._

_They could probably all still be here today._

Yusaku didn’t expect Ai to stay, as he had made it clear from their very first encounter that Ai was a hostage and that he was allowed to walk free.

Yet he still wished to know where he was, what he was doing. How was he faring after the death of his comrades? Yusaku wanted a certain closure not only for himself but also for Ai, that he wasn’t going to get in his current absence.

All of this which could only be described as ironic in retrospect, he concluded with a bitter sigh.

Ai was a hostage. That was, by definition, how their relationship had started out. Yusaku was the captor demanding answers from Ai, and any and all plans not relevant to their common goal were completely cut out and not heard.

For a long time, he wasn’t about to see a talking AI as a living sentient being, let alone as his equal. He’d mute Ai whenever he was interfering with his work, or simply tell him to shut up. But as they spent more and more time together, something changed. Yusaku felt himself opening up in a way he hadn’t been able to in at least ten years.

Since that incident, he came to trust an AI to a certain extent before he trusted a human to.

_“I’m beginning to hate humans, too…”_

And then, out of the blue, Yusaku suddenly realized that in all the emotional neglect that he had built up, involuntarily or not, that he... didn’t actually know that much about Ai to begin with.

What he had so seemingly so carelessly believed to be the truth all this time -- was it about to crumble away?

It may have been his usual pessimistic self speaking on his behalf again, but that possibility didn't sound too far off. 

 

x

 

He had that dream again that night.

For nearly every night the past ten years, he would have awoken in a blinding white room as his present-day self. The ceiling nowhere in sight and from what he could see, the room would be completely empty with nothing but a VR headgear at his foot. He slowly reached down to pick up the headgear and lift it up to his face. His movements were gruelling, lethargic, as if he had done this many times before and was becoming increasingly aware that this would never end.

The vision in front of him transformed itself into an endless, shapeless graveyard once again and it was eerily quiet, just as it always was. He would take several steps and incite shadowy figures to rise from their gravestones, drifting around precariously without a care or purpose in this world. The cards in his deck took form one by one, the holograms solidifying themselves within his arm’s reach. Unconsciously, Yusaku reached out to grasp at one of the cards he had somehow always recalled playing first in all the dreams before him.

Without warning, that very card shattered into a million pieces, startling the dazed and confused Yusaku. He looked down at the playing field and realized that another card, one that he had never seen before, had been played instead.

Nothing happened in the ensuing seconds. Nothing stirred and even the lurking shadows seemed to fade away on their own. His invisible virtual opponent didn’t seem to be in the progress of making a move, either, and--

“We meet again, Yusaku,” came a small voice from that mysterious card, yet it seemed to come from behind and around Yusaku as well. A shadow slowly rose from the card, towering over the other shadowy figures. The voice was vaguely familiar, yet Yusaku couldn’t put a finger on it as he was sure that he had never seen anyone resembling him in his life.

“Who are you?” Yusaku asked. “Show yourself!” The cloudy haze in his mind was already beginning to fade away and he was able to confirm that this was indeed another one of those nightmares.

“As a matter of fact, I’m actually you,” the voice said. It was low and barely audible, but its menacing tone somehow seemed to affect Yusaku’s mental state even in a dream.

“As if,” he breathed. “I have never even seen you before. Now hurry up and get out of my sight.” He was simultaneously becoming more frustrated and petrified with the manner that the shadow, the presumed owner of that voice, was inching closer to him.

The silhouette only snickered. “I am the embodiment of your failures.”

“I’ll give you three seconds.”

“You don’t realize it,” the voice continued, much to Yusaku’s dismay. “Or more accurately, you refuse to admit it. To yourself, above all.”

“What are you talking about? How would you know anything about me?”

Finally, the silhouette was beginning to retreat into the shadows.

“Answer me!” Yusaku shouted after him. The mysterious figure said nothing more and he disappeared into the abyss, his cape fluttering in the wind and vanishing as soon as he had come.

 

x

 

Yusaku jolted awake in his bed, short of breath and drenched in sweat. It was still dark out, but he had finally escaped another night of that series of nightmares as well as the new sinister figure for the time being.

“Roboppy,” he called out out of habit. Whenever he’d have a particularly horrible nightmare, she would stir from her sleep to, at his request, hand him a towel. However, there was no answer, and it was then that reality had really returned to him once again.

He threw aside the covers, finding solace in still darkness but it could not drown out the ringing in his ears in the silence of the night. Eventually he fell asleep and remained in that calm state until the first rays of sunlight reached him.

Yusaku immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed his duel disk off the desk. The very first person he called after that absolutely surreal dream was Kusanagi.

The man on the other end answered after three rings. “Yusaku? You’re up early today.” As Kusanagi greeted him, Yusaku could hear constant shuffling noise in the background and deduced that the ever diligent Kusanagi was already preparing on setting up shop as he was on the phone with him. It was a Sunday and Café Nagi was only going to be open for half the day, so he didn’t require Yusaku’s help that day.

“I had a strange dream last night.” Outside, the faint chirping of birds could be heard.

“Was it another one of your nightmares?”

“Kind of. I saw someone that I’ve never seen before, and because I was unable to get any answers, that itself is upsetting.”

“You’ve got a lot on your mind lately, Yusaku. Try not to worry about it too much.”

“It seemed real, Kusanagi. Like I wasn’t talking to someone from a dream.”

There was a temporary silence from the other end before the shuffling noise in the background resumed. “Did you want to talk about it?” his close acquaintance asked.

Yusaku thought about it. “Not really. Maybe you are right, that I’ve just been thinking a lot recently.”

“Let me know if you do want to talk about it, whether it be today or another day, alright?”

“Thanks, Kusanagi- _san_.”

There was a click on the other end. Yusaku fell back onto his bed as last night's dream replayed out in his mind. Just as he was pondering over what the mysterious voice meant when he called him "the embodiment of his failures", there was an abrupt knock at the door.

Takeru, the transfer student he had grown comfortable with and come to trust like he did with Ai, showed up uninvited at his run-down apartment room.

“Kusanagi told me where you live,” he explained himself quickly. “I just came to see Roboppy. Do you mind?”

“I don’t mind,” Yusaku said, stepping aside to let Takeru in. “However, she hasn’t been active once since we returned from Mirror LINK VRAINS.”

“Is that so?” his friend said as he crouched down to get a closer look at the empty husk that was Roboppy. “We didn’t really talk about this in detail the other day, but do you happen to know what the backup was about?”

“I only heard Ai mention it once, and I investigated it, but I’m still not entirely familiar with the Ignis algorithm.” He paused for a moment. “I’d been meaning to ask Revolver.”

Takeru’s eyebrows deeply furrowed, his teeth gritted at the mention of Revolver’s name. “Not Revolver,” he growled. “After what he said about the Ignis, why do you still trust him?”

Yusaku’s lips parted, slightly taken aback by this question, not because he didn’t think Takeru would never ask him but because he preferred to keep the truth about those involved in his childhood past under wraps. _It’s because Revolver isn’t the kind of person you think he is._ Considering how brash Takeru was in confronting Revolver in the past, Yusaku decided that they would all be better off if he didn't tell him.

Fortunately, Takeru didn’t press the matter on further.

“I miss Roboppy, too,” he said. “She was an adorable little robot. I wonder what she’s up to, with Ai.” He turned to look at Yusaku, his gaze firm. “I hope they come back to visit soon.”

Yusaku could only nod in agreement.

 

x

 

“We meet again, Yusaku,” came that voice that he already dreaded, and the all-too-familiar silhouette slowly emerged from the curtain of shadows like in his last dream.

“It’s you again,” Yusaku bemoaned. Was this Bohman’s new disguise? Dr. Kogami’s spirit reviving from the dead to haunt him? What did this person want from him? “Please leave me alone already.”

Instead of compiling to his wishes or even play along, the figure only closed in on his space. As he emerged from the shadows, Yusaku was able to see the figure behind the voice for the first time.

Out came, to his surprise, a young man slightly over his age, dressed in prim and proper regal clothing from head to toe. Yusaku didn't know what he was expecting, but he did not actually expect to see how much the person in front of him resembled himself, either.

Yet something else immediately caught Yusaku's eye. On his ears were a set of dangling earrings that resembled a familiar figure’s head...

 _Could it be--?_ Yusaku felt his feet moving on their own accord, and while he had the intention of getting a closer look he set off in the other direction instead, taking several steps back before his back met the wall.

 _No,_ he calmly told himself. _This is all just a dream._

This was his dream and he was supposedly in charge of what would happen next, yet he was somehow completely rendered powerless in the presence of this unfamiliar young man. There was nowhere to escape to and he was unable to look anywhere else. He was even trembling as fear paralyzed his whole body and apprehension soared through his mind; he hadn’t experienced anything near this claustrophobic since he had been forcibly caged in that white room ten years ago.

“We meet again,” the mysterious man repeated.

“I’ll give you three seconds to--”

“I’m honestly a bit sad to see that you don’t recognize me,” said the man. “You don’t recognize the one whom you call your partner.” He sneered in a mocking tone so like and unlike Ai’s own mannerisms that it only sent the coldest shivers up Yusaku’s spine. “You don’t remember your beloved hostage, whom you so affectionately named Ai.”

Yusaku glared at him. “Nice try, but there is no way you are going to convince me that you are Ai in my dream.”

Then he came to remember that he had yet to see Ai since he left. So why was he dreaming about this mysterious person? Was this dream a premonition of something yet to come? Was this person appearing to warn him about another approaching catastrophe?

“Who are you and what do you want from me?”

The mysterious man only grinned as he took one last step forward. “You’ll find out soon enough, _Aibou_.”

Yusaku opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, this is my first fic in literal years but **#letaibethevillain2k19**
> 
> i'm totally looking forward to it :)


	2. 00

“You look especially tired today, Yusaku,” Takeru pointed out the obvious first thing the next morning at school. “Did you not sleep well?”

“You could say that,” Yusaku muttered, sitting down and putting his head down on the desk. He did not want to think about the adventure he had last night. “I had a dream about--”

At the other end of their table, Shima had whipped out his tablet and was searching up something, but he didn’t hide his intentions well when Yusaku caught him trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. It was quite obvious, too, as he kept stealing glances at their direction, specifically at Yusaku.

Luckily, Takeru had also caught on and he, too, had understood and turned to face the front of the classroom. Yusaku had a feeling just by looking at his expression that Takeru wanted to know more, but class had already started then so whatever he was going to say next was going to have to wait.

 

x

 

“I had a dream about Ai,” Yusaku said once they were at Café Nagi that afternoon, when there were very few customers hanging around at the plaza.

Takeru stopped what he was doing and turned to face his friend, excitement lighting up his grey eyes like lanterns. “I was actually just going to ask about that!”

“Well, he said he was Ai but it was a dream...”

"That's what I wanted to know about, too!" Takeru swung his legs over the table to sit with Yusaku. “So even if it was a dream, did he say if he was going to come back?” He turned his head this way and that, as if he was expecting Ai to be hiding in the bushes somewhere and was ready to jump out at any time to surprise them both.

“No,” was Yusaku’s only reply.

“Then what was your dream about?”

“It was about Ai, but he did not appear before me as Ai.”

Takeru looked puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”

“I had dreamt about him once before, but I didn’t know who it was at the time.” Yusaku continued. He momentarily glanced at Kusanagi standing a few feet away, in which the older man gave him a slight silent nod. “He was not the Ai we know and remember.”

“Um…” Takeru was even more confused now. “If he didn’t come back as Ai, what did he come back as?”

Yusaku hesitated. “A human. He looked a bit older than me, but it still resembled him a little.” _And me_ , he thought, but he intentionally left that part out. Otherwise it would really sound like he was just having a dream.

“I know it’s a dream, but knowing you, it’s probably a good omen that you dreamt about Ai.” Takeru smiled. “Maybe he decided to become a human in order to relate to you better. You mentioned having Link Sense, right? You might be predicting the near future without knowing it.”

“I doubt that,” Yusaku said. “Ai seemed comfortable in his own body. If he became a human, he would have more limitations put on him.”

“That’s true…” With that, the conversation seemed to have ended and the two boys sat in silence, listening to Kusanagi’s hot dogs sizzling on the cooker in the background.

“Yusaku, do you love Ai?” Takeru blurted out of nowhere, and all eyes turned to look at him. “I mean, not just as a friend, but, out of curiosity, as, you know...”

Yusaku stared at him incredulously. “I absolutely do not.”

Kusanagi chuckled in the background, but quickly closed his fist over his mouth to stop any sound coming from him.

“Well, I don’t know,” Takeru continued, ignoring Yusaku glaring at him. “Kiku told me that if you dream about someone you’ve never seen before but you already know them, then... uh, that person is actually your soulmate and that you are truly destined to be with them.”

“It looks like your friend may have been planting too many ideas in your head,” Kusanagi smiled in their direction before resuming his work.

“Maybe it’ll only be a matter of time before you meet Ai again in person,” Takeru shrugged and laughed nervously. “You could try to tell him your true feelings then, and maybe then it’ll ease up the tension?”

“I regret ever telling you about this at all,” Yusaku said.

 

x

 

Yusaku didn’t talk to Takeru much for the rest of that day, even when it was time for the two to leave the plaza for the day, but what he said had him thinking. He thought about what Takeru had said about him Ai possibly being his “soulmate”, as he had called it. Yusaku didn’t believe in soulmates, as he knew firsthand that waiting for someone who had no intention to return their feelings didn’t turn out well. He didn’t know what to think about Ai in that matter, as he had never considered it and it wasn’t exactly possible. The Dark Ignis was based off him, and technically they understood each other as one entity, yet they were two different beings and two worlds apart.

He wasn’t going to challenge his emotions, especially not now when he was able to confirm what --or who-- Ai had become, or at least, taken the guise of. He didn’t know why he would come back in the way he did.

Was Takeru right about Ai, though? Was it not too farfetched to say that this was Ai’s own way of saying that he, too, wanted to become even closer to him, his Origin? Did he find Cyberse World too lonely without his comrades, and wanted to come back to live in Den City with him instead?

The possibilities may be endless, but there was no way Ai would betray him.

Someone lightly tapped him on the shoulder, sending him back into reality. It was Kusanagi. “You got a moment, Yusaku?”

Yusaku nodded, and the two sat down at one of the benches.

Kusanagi handed him a mug of coffee. “I’ve known you for over a year,” he began. “And I know you’re worried about Ai, specifically since you’ve had that dream you told me about.”

Yusaku turned to face his close acquaintance, coffee mug in hand.

“I can’t read your mind,” Kusanagi said. “But I think I can make a pretty good guess at your tendencies, especially since we’ve been working together for quite a while now.”

“Was there something you wanted to tell me?”

“That I do. I wanted to tell you that you’ve grown a lot since the day I met you. You used to not pay attention to the people around you, but now you believe in the best of everyone. I think it has even become your strongest trait. You may not try to take credit for it, but you alone brought many people together.”

“That wasn’t my doing,” Yusaku tried to say.

“But as you know, a coin has two sides, and nothing is considered complete with its opposite,” Kusanagi continued, looking Yusaku straight in the eye. ”On the other hand, this may also be your weakest trait. If you trust almost everyone, that could lead to potential danger. As you may already be aware, the chances of anyone fitting your exact ideals is very slim, because they are not you.”

Yusaku put down his mug. “I’m not sure where you are going with this…”

“As you told Revolver when we were at his mansion, you thought about him for ten years as you had believed he was still captured. It must have hurt to find out that it hadn’t been like that all these years, and that Revolver was unwilling to listen to you despite him having once saved your life.”

“I’m not hurt by what Revolver told me at the time,” Yusaku insisted, even if that wasn't the truth. “It was disappointing that he didn’t see me as a friend, but the more I thought about it, the more I understood that we grew up under different circumstances. If I was going to convince him to let go off the past, it’d take much more than just my words.”

“Yes. Moreover, since you two were separated for ten whole years, you don’t know Revolver like you know Ai. With Ai, you’ve known him for a whole year and he’s been with you through thick and thin. Now, could you imagine if Ai became the last person you would have expected? Similarly to what happened between Revolver and your childhood friend, Kogami Ryoken.”

“I don’t really understand, Kusanagi- _san_.”

“I’m not saying that Ai is like Revolver,” Kusanagi quickly added as he got up from his seat. “I’m telling you to be careful about getting yourself too deeply involved if something doesn’t turn out the way you’d expect.”

Yusaku slowly nodded.

Kusanagi gave him a small gentle smile. “I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”

 

x

 

Yusaku didn’t have that dream again for weeks after that, nor did he receive a sign from the mysterious young man again, but he couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling that followed him around even during the day. Day became night, night became day, and still there was no sight of Ai, regardless of what form he took after, anywhere.

He was about to give up hope that he would ever see that man, or Ai, again. A part of him was relieved that it was all over and that maybe he could finally put his past behind him, but on the other hand he was lost.

If he had to accept the loss of his best friend, that would still be much too difficult.

It had started to drizzle one afternoon after another shift at Café Nagi’s, and Takeru had already taken an early leave so as to avoid being drenched in the impending rainstorm. Yusaku set off home shortly after him, but did not return to his tiny apartment room immediately. He hung around the plaza and window-shopped at a few of the stores he passed by. Without following any particular mental compass, he aimlessly wandered throughout Den City, weaving his way in and out of alleyways and backstreets.

He didn’t look up until he was alone on the streets and the drizzle had become a downpour. As he had no umbrella with him, Yusaku took shelter in an upcoming android-operated café that was still under construction. He was usually ignorant of the latest metropolitan news, but this was a big project related to the SOL _tiS_ that had garnered a lot of buzz from the local community so the showing room was open to the public and had been since then.

He stepped into the building, the not-so-subtle squeaking of his wet sneakers echoing through the predominantly vacant hall. He had the strange feeling that he wasn’t alone, but believed that it might just be the pit-pattering of the rain on the windows that was bothering him.

Yusaku fully expected that he would be the only one there on this grey and wet evening, and he was only planning to stay until the rain subsided. But as he made his way down the hall, he quickly realized something was amiss.

To his surprise, there was someone sitting at the very end of the hall.

He slowly made his way closer to the figure. When he was about three feet away, he saw that it was a young man with long dark hair. Even though his back was turned to him, Yusaku knew exactly who he was.

“Ai!” he cried out. He reached out to touch him on the shoulder, and as soon as he made contact, the young man disappeared.

And there, in his place, was nothing but the empty husk of a SOL _tiS_  human android.

Yusaku was thoroughly shocked and for a split second, he was unsure of what had really just happened. His entire body had frozen over in a bizarre mixture of relief, bewilderment and fear. He knew for a fact that that was the same man he saw in his dreams, the same man who claimed to be Ai.

_Was it really him just now, or was it just a hallucination?_

“I thought you’d be here, Playmaker,” a familiar voice came from behind him. Yusaku spun around and saw Revolver standing in the doorway. Spectre, with his usual smug smile plastered to his normally speechless self, was next to him and he was holding an umbrella large enough for three.

“Revolver!” Yusaku exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Did you so foolishly think I would come here for no reason?”

Yusaku froze. “So that means-”

“Yes. That was, without a doubt, the Dark Ignis. My systems picked up his presence again recently and so I have been monitoring his every movement up to this point. I‘ve tracked him moving from the Cyberse World, to the depths of the virtual world, to even visiting your very own brain twice.”

Naturally, Yusaku couldn't be surprised that Revolver already knew all of this without him having to say anything, as expected of someone of his calibre.

“That was the Dark Ignis just now; he finally decided to return to our world. We picked up his presence in this area, hence why I came,” Revolver explained in his usual deadpan manner.

"Why did he run away just now?"

"Who knows. Probably because he saw me." 

“Ai...” Yusaku sighed dejectedly. If Revolver himself confirmed the identity of the figure in his dreams, then Ai had in fact returned. The recent events hadn’t been a figment of his imagination at all.

“What was he doing here?” Yusaku pressed on. “He seems to want something from me, but I don’t know what it is and he hasn’t told me…”

“More like he wants to lead you on a chase of cat-and-mouse, as expected of the Ignis.” Revolver scoffed. “It doesn’t matter what form he decides to take; he will not remain undetected under my watch. I don’t need to say it again, but soon you will see for yourself the extent of the damage that the Ignis is capable of, if allowed to roam free like this.”

“But--”

“If you care about yourself and your future, I’d advise you to be more cautious from now on.” Revolver said. “You’re not like everyone else, Playmaker, and you know that. You were the only subject of the Lost Incident to develop a neurological connection with the network called Link Sense, and it is also causing you to clearly see and talk to him, even in your dreams.” He began to turn away. “There is absolutely no telling what the Dark Ignis is up to next and we don’t know what he may do to you.”

Yusaku couldn’t think of a retort that could counter that. Defeated, he dropped his shoulders.

_What's going on with you, Ai?_

“Would you like us to walk you home?” Spectre suddenly spoke up after a few moments of silence, his signature smile never leaving his face. This startled Yusaku, who was temporarily stunned by Revolver’s words, and as Spectre’s words reached him, so did anger. He wasn’t even the physical type, but at that very moment, he had the sudden urge to walk up to Spectre and punch his face in.

But he knew perfectly well that Revolver would not tolerate that. He also knew better than to let such negative emotions get the better of him, especially when he himself was still in such a turbulent and confused mental state.

For a split second, Yusaku hated it all. Hated that he had to find out about Ai this way. Hated that the Knights of Hanoi had to get themselves involved once again. Hated that he could offer no concrete answers of his own about anything whatsoever.

And above all, he hated that there was essentially nothing he could do about it except be patient. The only thing he could do now was at least accept Spectre’s offer, as much as he wanted to run as far as he could from them both.

The three of them walked back to Yusaku’s place without another word exchanged in between. Yusaku still knew that he should not let his guard down around the Knights of Hanoi, and so he had them drop him off on the corner on the other side of the block where he lived.

They didn’t object to this decision, but he was several times sure they already knew every last detail about where he lived, anyways.

So much for saving his last bit of face.

 

x

 

The next few days appeared to come and go, as if he was constantly drifting in and out of a dream.

The recent events had yet to sink into his conscious; most of them were still floating around in his mind, irking him with his own unanswered questions at every chance they could. Yet he never failed to keep his eyes peeled for a certain young man in a black cape.

Takeru had started helping out at Café Nagi, and after only a few shifts, he was already an infinitely better vendor and salesperson than Yusaku could ever dream of becoming. His cheerful friendliness and charisma attracted customers of all ages, including young children accompanied by their parents, white-collared working men, and sometimes even the elderly passing by the plaza. The boy wasn’t confident at first, but he was an absolute natural at upselling, and Kusanagi was beaming with pride for his new part-time volunteer.

Yusaku was immensely glad for Takeru. Despite knowing how much he still missed Flame every day, he seemed to be moving on with his life just fine.

As for Yusaku, he had a mission he could not abandon. Whenever it was Takeru’s turn to tend the hot dog truck when Kusanagi was away, Yusaku would take walks around the city plaza. No one would know that he was looking for someone, let alone a certain someone who used to love everything about this part of Den City.

Granted, Ai probably wouldn’t be out and about in the city plaza of all places in broad daylight, as he had gotten used to hiding himself in this area, but Yusaku was desperate to find him.

He wanted to talk to Ai, and properly this time.

Unfortunately, he had a problem. After his duel with Bohman, SOL had shut down the entire LINK VRAINS network indefinitely in order to avoid putting the lives of so many people in danger for a third time. As a result, accessing the virtual network through that route was no longer possible. Still, Yusaku had to find a way to return to LINK VRAINS, as well as dig deep into his Link Sense to retrieve Ai’s location.

Even if he had to endure the pain and the potential risks that came with it. Even if he had to do everything he could to prove Revolver wrong.

Even if he would fail in the end.

Yusaku would get all the answers and bring Ai back no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yusaku may be determined, but what will happen once he officially reunites with ai ~~very soon~~?
> 
> shoutout to acsis, rosey, and lux for the super nice comments, and everyone who left kudos!  
> thank you all so much ❤ any questions you may have will be answered eventually >:)


	3. 000

The plan to try to access LINK VRAINS from the outside was, unfortunately, not a success, considering it was not a one-man's job. Yusaku had scourged through countless articles and private forum threads on how to hack into SOL’s database through manipulating the source code of the company’s security firewall alone, but he wasn’t able to find the answers he needed. He quickly realized that, just like with the Tower of Hanoi last time, that he would have to enter through the hard way again, but he would need Kusanagi’s help for that.

However, Kusanagi was much more busy now that he was working another job to support himself and his brother. Jin was finally able to return to school, so Yusaku was reluctant to bother either of them because of his own personal problems. He eventually decided that he wouldn’t get Kusanagi involved at all.

Perhaps he really only needed a stroke of luck for Ai to reappear on his own.

The following day, when Yusaku was making his way to the plaza with Takeru after school, it looked as though as though his world had transformed within hours. SOL had released their newest invention out to the public that day while he was still at school, so the SOL _tiS_ were already occupying the city grounds. The former janitor was now walking alongside a human android who was doing their job instead, using the broom and dustpan exactly in the way an actual human would.

“They look kind of creepy with how they look just like humans, but then they have glowing parts on their faces and neck,” Takeru commented, gesturing at one of the androids. Yusaku tried to look at something else, but instead he made the mistake of looking at one of the SOL _tiS_ androids directly in the face, which sent chills up his spine. These robots may be perfectly functioning the way they were supposed to, but the uncanny valley was still quite evident.

If the future meant having to look at these androids on a daily basis, in addition to replacing human labour, then tough times lay ahead.

 

x

 

The first day of SOL _tiS_ ’s official release could only be said as interesting. Takeru wanted to explore the city and see all the kind of things that androids were able to do, and Yusaku had been dragged along with him. They visited cafés, shopping malls, and hanged out in the parks. Naturally, they both didn’t have any money to splurge, so they simply window-shopped their entire first experience with the uncanny-looking androids.

He didn’t dare touch one of the SOL _tiS_ models, but according to Takeru, who was braver and much more open to these things than he was, they felt like actual humans when he had gone up to hug an android that was giving out free hugs to the public. Yusaku wasn’t sure what to make of that; he imagined that this would surely give rise to a lot of new entertainment for some people, but he was not in a position to judge or care.

By the time Yusaku got back home that evening, he was completely wiped out. He flopped backwards onto his bed, shoes still on. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his clothes, but he still rolled over to glance at Roboppy’s empty husk under the stairs, which was something he did everyday out of habit and.... hope.

Yusaku wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of moss. That was a clear sign that he was going to have to do a top-to-bottom cleanup of his apartment tomorrow and not put it off for any longer. It was certainly times like these that he wished Roboppy would return.

He was about to doze off when he felt a shockwave pierce through his head. Yusaku immediately opened his eyes, but nothing was there.

_Stop playing tricks on me!_ he told himself as he tried to shake off the strange feeling slowly closing in on his space. Suddenly, he heard sounds coming from outside and he rushed to open the door.

“Who’s there?” he called out. “I’m tired of playing your games!” He looked around, but there was no one on the streets except for one lone SOL _tiS_ android taking out the trash. An owl hooted out in the distance. Yusaku stepped outside to bask in the moonlight and waited to hear the noise again, but nothing else happened.

He was about to head back inside when he caught a familiar silhouette casually slip by him. It appeared to be inviting him to follow, and then it zipped down the road. It only took the fluttering of a specific black cape in the wind before Yusaku would run after it as fast as he could, even though the fatigue significantly slowed his strides.

Still, he managed to keep the shadow within his line of sight as he continued his pursuit down the streets. It travelled up the stairs straight into a theatre venue and Yusaku followed it inside. It was almost impossible to see anything in the dark, but somehow he seemed to know where the figure was going, which corridor it was going to turn into. He chased the shadow down several hallways dimly lit by the moonlight spilling in from the windows. Yusaku saw it disappear into the entrance of the auditorium and he momentarily stopped in front of the door to catch his breath before cautiously making his way in as well.

“It looks like our team is finally together again,” came a familiar voice from deep within the room.

Yusaku squinted his eyes. Just as he was approaching the stage, something --or someone-- leaped out from one of the seating aisles.

“Eyy, it’s Master! Long time no see, Master!”

Yusaku visibly jumped at this. Suddenly, a spotlight in the auditorium turned on, temporarily blinding him with the abrupt shift in brightness. The first thing Yusaku saw when he recovered was… a young child? Despite the short bobcut and the tomboy attire, he couldn’t tell if they were a boy or girl, but they were looking up at him with the roundest eyes. They reminded him of a puppy expecting to receive praise from their owner.

“Master, it’s me! I’ve missed you! Did you miss me too?” They seemed very happy to see him, even though Yusaku was positive they’d never met before.

“Calm down, Roboppy,” someone on stage spoke up, surprising Yusaku. He looked up to see, in the middle of all the spotlights, that young man in the black cape he had been on the lookout for for weeks.

“I knew it was you!” Yusaku exclaimed. He turned back to the child. “Then, Roboppy--?”

“Master! It’s your clever child, Roboppy!” the child chimed in. “ _Aniki_ gave me intelligence and free will! I’m so happy!”

Yusaku was stunned. “Was this all Ai’s plan?”

“Tch, of course it was,” Ai said with a flick of his hand.

“What is the meaning of this? Why are you and Roboppy humans now?” Yusaku hesitated then, and his voice become several times smaller. “You’re Ai... aren’t you?”

Ai responded with a smirk and a dramatic wave of his cape. “You’re finally convinced, my dear _Aibou_.”

Yusaku nodded. “I have so many things I want to ask you, Ai.”

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know eventually, but first I need your help.”

Yusaku wasn’t satisfied with that answer in the slightest, but he figured that he had to be patient and find out more about the situation at hand, as to not alert Ai and possibly lose the opportunity to ever see him again.

“Fine. Tell me what I have to do, then.”

“Great! I’m glad you agree. Anyways, we’ll meet again soon, but I won’t say when just yet. We’re being watched by someone really annoying, and I need to deal with that first.” And with a wave of his cape, he and Roboppy disappeared without another word, leaving only the empty stage behind.

“Wait!” Yusaku called after them, but he was too late. He also felt the lingering dark presence from before disappear completely.

_You were watching again, weren’t you, Revolver?_

He didn’t like the Knights of Hanoi tracking his every move and chasing Ai away, thus cutting their conversations short every time. On the other hand, he felt a strange sense of comfort knowing that someone was looking out for his safety, so that at least one person could act on his behalf if anything were to go awry.

Yusaku quickly shook that thought out of his head. He didn’t believe that would happen.

He trusted Ai, didn’t he?

 

x

 

Yusaku laid awake in bed that night, thinking about the many things on his mind.

He wondered if all of this had been caused by the backup. Ai didn’t seem like his usual self and he wasn’t sure what his partner wanted to ask of him. He thought of all the things Ai liked when he was still in his Ignis form, but nothing that he would have continued enjoying in a human body came to mind.

Roboppy was different, being a cleaning robot who almost never left the apartment room, unlike Ai who was almost always with him. Yusaku didn’t mind if this was how they wanted to be emancipated, but he truthfully had no idea Roboppy yearned for free will, nor when they became self-aware outside of their secluded life. Was this another one of Ai’s mischiefs whenever their owner wasn’t around?

Suddenly, a small pinging sound came from his duel disk, indicating that there was a new message. Thinking it was from Kusanagi rather than Takeru, who would have been asleep already at this time, Yusaku dragged himself out of bed to retrieve his duel disk.

_What’s this?_

It was a message from the last person he’d expect at this hour: Revolver. **Be careful of the Ignis.** was all he had written.

Yusaku sat back down on his bed. It wasn’t very uncommon that Revolver would outwardly show his concern towards him despite their differences on the Ignis, but he wasn’t a child anymore, either. They no longer needed to look after each other like how his six-year-old self had depended on the voice of his eight-year-old saviour in that horrible white room.

**I’ll be fine. I trust that Ai won’t do anything out of the ordinary,** Yusaku responded back after pondering for a while longer.

**You don’t know that.** **Regardless, I’ll be watching,** came the reply mere seconds later.

Yusaku sighed. **I just want to talk to Ai in peace.** He was tempted to emphasize the last two words, but he knew it would have been disregarded all the same, anyways.

He put the duel disk on the bed next to him and closed his eyes. He imagined Ai was still next to him, in his usual Ignis form, already sound asleep in the duel disk. Roboppy would have dozed off a while ago in the corner under the stairs.

_What were they both doing now?_

_When was the next time he would see them again?_

These were his last thoughts before he finally drifted off to sleep.

 

x

 

Several nights had passed before Yusaku found himself back in the white room.

Everything was the same as he had remembered, after having envisioned this exact same scene over and over again for a whole decade with no end in sight. The VR headgear that laid at his feet hadn’t changed all these years, either. It was still impossible to see exactly how high the walls extended, and with how bright it always was, there was never any form of exit in sight, either.

Somehow Yusaku would always find himself back in the cage of light, as cruel fate would hold him as a prisoner for life here.

But today felt much more different as he put on the VR headgear. Instead of returning to the graveyard with nothing but spirits to keep him company as he duelled his life away for the infinite time, he found himself in front of a pair of large double doors. Feeling like he had seen these doors before, Yusaku decided he would take his chances to discover what lay beyond and he pushed them open.

When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with a vision of the same auditorium he had seen Ai and Roboppy in earlier.

The first thing he saw were the spotlights. They were everywhere, but they were blinding him in a way that the white room never did. As he gradually got used to the brightness, his eyes fell upon the same stage he had seen earlier that evening.

And on that stage was...

“Welcome back, Yusaku!” a familiar young man greeted him with a bow.

Yusaku almost snorted at this. “You were the one who ran away, Ai.” He looked around for Roboppy, but realized they weren’t there.

Then it hit him that his Link Sense was only linked to Ai and not his personal cleaning bot. He was not going to see Roboppy as long as he was dreaming, even though he still very faintly felt their presence somewhere deep in his Link Sense.

“Okay, so here’s the plan. Mr. Annoying might know that I’m in your dreams, but he won’t know what we’re talking about. So we should be safe here.” Ai said. “By the way, Roboppy told me to say hi.”

Yusaku furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Now tell me what you wanted me to do, Ai, so you can finally tell me what’s going on around here already.”

“Whoa, whoa, what’s the hurry?” Ai waved his hands in front of him. “Let’s take this one at a time, shall we?” He sat down on the throne behind him, a regal chair that he had probably created out of his own imagination. “First off, and this is our little secret between you and me, but I need you to get Takeru’s duel disk for me. Flame might have left something in there that’s important to the Ignis.”

“What could Flame have left behind?” Yusaku inquired. When Ai didn’t answer, Yusaku nodded in sympathy.

“Alrighty! So it’s settled, then!” Ai replied, as cheerful as he could be. “Don’t worry, I won’t be keeping it for long. But I’ll have to retrieve it from you in actuality, so let’s say our meeting spot will be…” He tapped two fingers on his chin as he was pretending to be thinking of a good place. “... the woods in the park!”

“I thought you’d say that.” After all, very few people traversed into the woods in the park even during the day, and there would be no one walking in there at night. In fact, several unresolved murder sprees had occurred in that very location, and its thick density made it extremely difficult for closed-circuit surveillance cameras to be set up in there.

“I’d like to see Revolver try to hijack that area,” Ai smiled, his friendly nature posing a stark contrast to his own words. “You and I should be safe there, don’t you think?”

Yusaku nodded. “I’ll meet you there tomorrow, at 7 o’clock sharp.”

“It’s a promise,” Ai said, and with a snap of his fingers, the dream faded away and Yusaku was sent back to reality.

 

x

 

Perhaps it was because he had dearly missed his partner, or perhaps it was because of his own desperation to learn the truth of what exactly was going on, or both. Whatever the cause, Yusaku was finding it increasingly difficult to remain patient with every step he felt he was progressing towards Ai.

Once the early morning light found its way into his apartment room’s window, he immediately grabbed his duel disk.

**Could you bring your duel disk to school today? It’s important.** His nimble fingers sent the message to Takeru as fast as they could.

An entire hour passed, leaving him in agony before he finally received a response. **Good morning, Yusaku! Can I ask what you need my duel disk for?**

**Hacking business.** was Yusaku’s immediate response. He had no choice but to lie at least this one time.

**I still don’t understand, but sure, I’ll bring it with me today.**

**Thanks.**

Within minutes, Yusaku had bolted out the door, school bag in hand as he tore down the street to his high school several blocks away. He made it there in less than five minutes as one of the first people in class, which came as a surprise to everyone already in there as he was usually late.

He ignored his classmates’ incredulous stares as he sat down at his seat and waited for his friend to arrive. After several minutes, which felt like forever, Shima entered the classroom first; he nearly did a double take when he saw Yusaku already sitting at their table, pretending to look studious.

“Whoa, Fujiki! Did the moon fall from the sky overnight?” Shima exclaimed. “You’re actually early today!”

Yusaku ignored him, though it was difficult when his classmate had the biggest mouth in the class, possibly in the whole school. Shima then continued to pester him with questions that were really none of his business, but he pretended to not hear anything. This angered Shima as he grew more and more fed up with Yusaku’s indifferent attitude towards him. Surely, he would have been used to it by now, but several semesters later, he still hadn't learned anything.

Out of frustration, Shima was in the process of threatening to announce Yusaku’s “part-time job” to the class when Takeru entered the classroom just in time. Yusaku immediately got up from his seat and grabbed Takeru’s arm as he dragged him from the classroom, leaving an utterly confused Shima behind.

Takeru looked even more surprised than Shima did as he was already being led out when he had just walked in. At the same time, he looked very concerned.

“I brought my duel disk,” he said when they were out in the courtyard and out of earshot from the rest of the other students entering the school. He took it out of his backpack and handed it to Yusaku, but his slow movements suggested that he was very hesitant in doing so.

“If I’m being honest, it… was a difficult decision, because... it’s the main physical memoir I have left of Flame…” Takeru trailed off before cheerfully continuing. “But I trust you, Yusaku. So please return it to me as soon as you’re finished with it.”

Yusaku nodded as he took the duel disk. “I don’t know how long I’ll be needing it for, but I’ll return it as soon as I can.” For a moment, he wanted to tell Takeru everything, from meeting Ai again and what he actually needed the duel disk for, but he remembered that Ai told him not to tell. After all, Ai was still on the run and only seemed to have come back for Yusaku. What sort of repercussions would he have to face if he let Takeru in on their secret?

On top of that, would Takeru have refused to lend out his duel disk if he was let in on the truth? It probably wasn’t likely, but Yusaku couldn’t risk his chances. Hoping that Ai would probably need it only for a day or two, Yusaku muttered his thanks and Takeru let out a small but sad smile. The two of them returned to their classroom just in time for class to start. Shima was still glaring at Yusaku when they walked in, but Yusaku didn’t pay him any mind. After all, he had plenty of more important things on his mind.

That evening really couldn’t come soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yusaku, just what are you getting yourself into?
> 
> shoutout to cyborgbunnies and lux for the comments in the previous chapter, and all the new kudos!  
> thank you everyone!! ❤


	4. 0000

That evening, Yusaku stood at the entrance to the woods in Den City’s Central Park.

_7 o’clock sharp_ , he had promised Ai, but he was already there at a quarter to despite almost never once being punctual in all his previous rendezvous with others. In the distance, he saw the playground with two lone SOL _tiS_ androids performing their daily cleaning duties.

Ai would show up anytime now, and possibly Roboppy, too.

Yusaku glanced down at the duel disk in his hands, its bright colours so unlike his own disk’s cooler tones. Just as he was wondering what kind of data Flame could have left behind, someone touched the back of his arm, startling him. It was Roboppy, and they were looking at him with the most innocent and cheery grin.

“Master, _Aniki_ is already waiting for you inside.” They gently tugged on Yusaku’s sleeve as they led him into the thick woods. It was almost impossible to see anything up ahead; the only source of light came from the yellow diamond on Roboppy’s neck as it appeared to shine even brighter in the dark. Yusaku found himself holding onto Roboppy the deeper they went into the woods, and in the near-dead silence, he felt oddly proud of how courageous and mature his once personal cleaning bot had become.

They led him to what looked to be a small clearing in the middle of the woods. There was probably only enough space for three people to set up a very small campfire. In the middle of the clearing was a small cyan diamond light hovering in mid-air, and Yusaku quickly realized it was Ai.

By now, Yusaku’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he figured that he could make out more than basic shapes and lines. He could see both Ai and Roboppy rather easily, especially the latter due to their bright colours. They invited him to sit down with them and the three of them formed a small triangle formation in the middle of the clearing.

For a moment, they were like family again: just him, Ai, and Roboppy. It was like a throwback to how they sometimes sat in the darkness of the night back in his apartment room.

“I hope this’ll do, Yusaku.” Ai suddenly spoke up. “I would’ve liked to be back in the comfort of your apartment room again, but I like how it feels more... natural here.” He promptly laid down on the grass, his arms folded over his head in contentment.

“ _Aniki_ said it!” Roboppy chirped. “Please join us here every night from now on, Master!”

Yusaku nodded, though he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to accept their request. He then held out Takeru’s duel disk to Ai.

“Oh, right.” Ai remembered what he had called Yusaku here for. He got up and took the duel disk in the careful manner of a gentleman. ”Thanks a lot! I really needed this.”

Yusaku stared at him, his head cocked to the side. “What do you need it for?”

“I just want to see if Flame left something in there, _Aibou_ ,” Ai said. “It could be vital to the Ignis.”

“So… it’s for sentimentality?” Yusaku suddenly had a bad feeling about Ai taking the duel disk, but shrugged it off just as quickly as it had come. He knew how much Takeru valued it, but he also trusted Ai, too. “How long will you be needing it for?”

“Oh, it’s only for a few days.” The duel disk slowly vanished into bits of data in Ai’s hand. “Don’t worry, Takeru won’t be missing it for long.”

Yusaku nodded even though he felt another wave of uncertainty wash over him then, but he tried to move onto something else. “I brought my laptop, in case we need it for anything.”

“You’re always prepared for everything, even when you’re not asked to. It’s just what I expected from my _Aibou_.”

“Is that a compliment?” Somehow that came out more snarkily than Yusaku had intended it to.

“Yes!” Roboppy piped up, their round yellow eyes looking up at him. “ _Aniki_ really looks up to you, Master!”

“Tch.” Ai looked slightly displeased at Roboppy’s remark. “Don’t make it sound like I’m incapable at anything myself.” Then he reached out to touch Yusaku’s shoulder. “Now that we’re all gathered here again, the three of us can have fun together like we used to… except we have to do it in absolute secret.”

Yusaku almost felt like rolling his eyes at the idea of this top-secret squad that suggested Ai had indeed been consuming too much popular media, but in reality he couldn’t have been more glad to be with his ‘family’ again.

“I am looking forward to that,” was all he could say in response. After all, what could go wrong with spending some time with them? After all, having them by his side again had been a constant wish ever since they left and it felt like his wish was finally coming true. He realized he only had to get used to seeing them in their human forms as well as their subtle personality shifts, even if only until his questions would finally be answered.

“You needn’t worry about anything; we’ve always got each other’s backs, haven’t we?” Ai said. “While you’re here, Roboppy, show Yusaku your new discovery.”

“I got it!” Roboppy shuffled closer to Yusaku and pointed at his laptop. “May I borrow your laptop, Master?”

Yusaku passed his prized possession over. Without the help of an external gadget, Roboppy turned it on with just a slight wave of their hand. They seemed to be perfectly navigating the interface without needing to physically touch the keyboard or the screen once, Yusaku observed. What exactly did Ai do to Roboppy? Yusaku stole a glance at his partner, but he only saw how Ai looked remarkably proud of Roboppy.

Typical, Yusaku thought to himself.

“I did it, Master!” Roboppy caught his attention again, and Yusaku turned to look at his laptop. To his surprise, he saw that some of his hacking tools and their functions had been upgraded. For a moment, Yusaku was rendered speechless; he could only stare in awe at the new changes. He had always wanted to take his hacking to the next level, but he never had the money nor the know-how to take it further. Out of the blue, Roboppy somehow managed to make it happen with a simple wave of his hand and without relying on Wi-Fi or anything else, either. Roboppy had performed something akin to magic, and aside from the three of them, no one else in the world knew this upgrade had taken place.

“I found out how to do this last night!” The overjoyed Roboppy turned to Ai. “Aren’t you proud of me, _Aniki_?”

“Eh... not really,” Ai replied in his usual playful tone. “You should try harder next time. You only gained a few experience points with that.”

“Aww, _Aniki_!” Roboppy protested. “How many more experience points do I need to make you proud of me?”

“Why did you do this?” Yusaku asked once he had gotten over his initial surprise. “I’m not sure if I can accept something like this.”

“Please do, Master!” Roboppy moved closer to Yusaku. “It’s my thanks to you. It’s a humble present for taking care of me for a total of three years, twenty weeks, five hours, eight minutes, and twenty seconds...”

“Well, Roboppy said it, so you better take it.” Ai said.

Yusaku could only smile as he pulled Roboppy in closer. Whatever he might have been worrying about earlier, he could no longer remember. He didn’t fully grasp everything that had just happened yet, but he couldn’t complain. He only had the feeling he was going to really enjoy their company in ways he’d never have thought possible before.

 

x

 

Kusanagi and Takeru both turned to look at him when Yusaku entered the city plaza the next afternoon. He had skipped school in its entirety that morning as he had stayed up all night trying out the new functions Roboppy had given him. He also found out that Internet access was no longer mandatory with this new upgrade so he could safely weave his way in and out of many databases easily without fear of being caught by some hidden anti hack system.

There was no more need to leech off the city plaza’s public high-speed Wi-Fi, but he didn’t think there would be any harm in showing Kusanagi, his trusted fellow hacker, anyways.

“You didn’t come to school today,” Takeru said in an uncharacteristically small voice once he reached the van. He didn’t sound like his usual self, making Yusaku feel worse about his decision to hand over his duel disk to Ai last night. He was having second doubts again, but he dismissed those negative thoughts once again. After all, Ai had said he wasn’t going to be needing it for long, and Yusaku was confident that he would be able to return it soon.

“Hey, Yusaku,” Kusanagi greeted him. His close acquaintance was used to him frequently skipping classes, so he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, although he did seem to notice something was off between him and Takeru. Yusaku could only assume Takeru hadn’t told Kusanagi that he had to part with his duel disk without knowing exactly why.

“I was working on something last night, and I got distracted.” Yusaku sat down on one of the benches, and Kusanagi handed him a mug of freshly brewed coffee.

“May I see what you were working on?” his close acquaintance asked.

“Sure.” Yusaku turned his laptop to his direction, and Kusanagi’s eyes widened at what he was seeing.

“Wow!” he exclaimed as he scanned the entire interface on the screen. “How and where did you get such a neat upgrade?”

Yusaku briefly hesitated, but continued to remain indifferent. “I found out how to install them from the Internet.”

“Is that so?” He looked skeptical for a brief moment, but he didn’t try to press the matter any further. “You’ll definitely have to teach me how once I have the time to sit down again.” He then turned to look at Yusaku, as if he had suddenly come up with an ingenious idea. “Say, do you think you’re able to look up some information on SOL for me with that?”

“What kind of information?” Yusaku inquired.

Kusanagi furrowed his eyebrows together. “The SOL _tiS_ models. I need to know how they’re doing behind the scenes, because… well, I might be thinking about getting one to help me and Jin out. Business has been better thanks to Takeru, so once I save up enough on the side, I should be able to invest in an android.”

“I’ll try,” Yusaku said. He wasn’t sure if he was able to hack into SOL all on his own, but maybe he’d ask Ai or Roboppy for assistance if he got stuck.

“I’ll explain it some more when I’m done for the day, alright?” Kusanagi then turned back to tending his van. Takeru continued to serve the customers that stopped by, though Yusaku could see that he had been listening from where he was standing.

 

x

 

Yusaku planned to follow Takeru and apologize to him after he had finished his shift. He was just about to get up from his seat before Kusanagi stepped out of the van to get Yusaku’s attention.

Feeling like he lost his chance, Yusaku watched Takeru walk out of the plaza after bidding his goodbyes to them. His close acquaintance sat down on the bench across from Yusaku. “I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“Takeru told me he lost his duel disk yesterday,” Kusanagi said. “I’m assuming that’s the reason why he seems upset today.” He let out a sigh. “But at the same time, I also happen to know him well enough that he wouldn’t be so careless as to lose something so important to him, so I was wondering if you knew anything about that.”

Yusaku was unable to say anything for a moment. He wasn’t shocked to hear that Takeru had been trying to cover up for him, but he was still surprised to hear that his friend would say something so… reckless. Didn’t he trust him?

“He didn’t lose it,” Yusaku confirmed. “I asked to borrow it, and he gave it to me.”

“I see.” His close acquaintance looked deep in thought. “What did you need it for?”

Yusaku took a deep breath. “Well, I really don’t think I should say it, but it has something to do with Flame.”

Upon hearing this, Kusanagi suddenly stood up in surprise. “Are you thinking of trying to bring the Ignis back?” There was a hint of excitement in his voice.

“Something like that, I guess.” But Yusaku wasn’t actually sure what Ai was going to be using the duel disk for. He was just making assumptions based off the mutual trust he shared with his partner, and he didn’t want to pressure Ai into telling him.

“Please don’t tell anyone about anything we talked about today, Kusanagi-san.” He checked the clock in the van. It was already past a quarter to seven, and he had to run.

“I won’t say a word to anyone, though I would like to know why--”

“Sorry, but I have to leave now.” Yusaku hastily packed his laptop and leapt to his feet. “I have homework to do. Thanks for the talk, Kusanagi.”

Kusanagi slowly nodded, though he looked bewildered and Yusaku couldn’t blame him, but it was the first excuse that came to mind despite knowing how outrageous it sounded.

Fujiki Yusaku never does homework.

 

x

 

He felt bad for lying to Kusanagi, too, but just as he had promised, he resolved to leave everyone else out of his top-secret evening meetings with Ai and Roboppy. No lie in the world could have been more transparent than him going home to do homework, but he had been looking forward to seeing his ‘family’ all day.

This time, Yusaku wandered on the path into the woods alone. He had brought a flashlight with him, in case he walked right off the trail by accident, but quickly found out he didn’t actually need it. His Link Sense led him straight to Ai even without consciously thinking about it.

“Hey, it’s Yusaku!” Ai exclaimed once he and Roboppy saw him. They were already sitting in the clearing, waiting for him.

“Good evening, Master!” Roboppy chirped. “We’ve missed you!”

Yusaku turned to Ai. “Well, you know what I came here to say. I didn’t have a dream last night.”

“Yeah, I was too busy with other stuff,” Ai said as he fluffled his own hair. “As an AI with free will, I’m not going to visit you everyday, you know.”

“That’s right, since you’re not my hostage anymore.” Yusaku sat down on the grass with them. He was disappointed that he wouldn’t have anything to do for the night, and thus take another step closer to the answers he was seeking, but he didn’t voice that aloud.

Roboppy latched onto his arm. “I’m sorry I can’t come to see you in your dreams, too, Master. Even though I really want to, I’m not smart enough to know how to, yet.”

Yusaku smiled in understanding. “I know it can’t be helped, Roboppy.”

“So how was your day, _Aibou_?” Ai asked after a moment of silence had passed. “Did you skip school again?”

“Yes,” Yusaku replied, and without shame. Ai knew him all too well. “I stayed at home, testing out the new functions Roboppy gave me. Then I went to the city plaza and talked to Kusanagi for a while.”

“Oh?” This seemed to pique Ai’s attention. “What were you talking about?”

“He wanted to learn more about the SOL _tiS_ ,” Yusaku replied. “He plans to save enough to buy one for himself.”

“Really? Kusanagi doesn’t seem like the type to rely on an android for anything. He’s kinda old-school like Revolver, don’t you think?” Ai was watching Roboppy admiring and talking to the tiny daisies growing out of the grass.

“He has Jin to take care of, now, too. And he’s also working at another café aside from Café Nagi. He could use some help once in a while,” Yusaku explained.

“That sounds like fun,” Ai said sarcastically, though it sounded like he was talking to himself. “So Jin is doing okay, now, cool.”

Yusaku nodded. “So that’s why Kusanagi asked me to help.”

“Interesting.” Ai laid back down on the grass. “These androids are proving themselves to be useful in more ways than one.”

“I guess there are some good things to them.” Even though they look disturbing and they will most likely replace humans someday, it’s also thanks to them that I can see you like this in person again. Yusaku began to pick at the grass out of mindless habit, much to Roboppy’s dismay.

“Ah-- don’t do that, Master!” they protested, but they were unfortunately ignored.

“I had to lie to Kusanagi about coming here,” Yusaku admitted. “I said I was going home to do homework.”

Ai laughed heartily at this, which surprised Yusaku as he had never heard a more carefree laugh from his partner. “I would have loved to see the look on Kusanagi’s face!”

His voice also sounded much more different than what he was used to; he actually sounded like a human now, and Yusaku still hadn’t gotten quite used to Ai being one.

“He didn’t say anything, but I know he didn’t buy it for one second. I wonder what I should tell him tomorrow, if he asks about it again.”

“Well, that’s your business to deal with, then.” Ai said. Yusaku could only glare at him; with his partner’s no-sympathy attitude, he had already regretted telling him.

He suddenly scrambled to his feet, which prompted Roboppy to look up from whatever they were doing. “You’re leaving already, Master?”

“Yeah, unlike you two, I still have school tomorrow.” Yusaku picked up his school bag and started to walk out of the clearing, but he suddenly stopped. “Ai,” he called out, turning around.

“Hm?”

“I... want to learn more about the Link Sense. Could you tell me everything you know about it sometime?”

“Maybe someday, if I feel like it.”

“Can we get a group hug before Master leaves?” Roboppy tugged on Ai’s sleeve, pleading him to get up. “Please, _Aniki_!”

“Oh, alright! Come closer, _Aibou_ ,” Ai instructed, and Yusaku moved in to wrap his arms around Ai’s back and Roboppy’s shoulders. It felt weird how he could now physically hug his AI friends, but it felt nostalgic all the same.

He couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

 

x

 

“You again.” Yusaku said when Ai appeared before him in another one of his dreams featuring the auditorium. He feigned disinterest at his presence, but in all honesty, he was always glad to see Ai.

“Hi!” His partner waved to him from his throne. “Did you miss me?”

Yusaku stared at him blankly. “No. Now hurry up and tell me what to do next so we can get on with it.”

“Fine, fine. Be that way.” Ai looked displeased at being told what to do. “So, after you left, I was thinking of what you told me about Kusanagi wanting an android of his own. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to learn more about SOL’s androids, too. After all, my body in the real world borrows from these things.”

Yusaku slowly nodded; he could see where this was going.

“Even though Kusanagi brought it up to you first, I hope you don’t mind me asking for more. I also need you to get SOL’s code key. However, you first need to get into SOL’s main database and find out where the key lies. That’s where Roboppy’s upgrade comes in handy, right?”

“So if I get that code key for you, you’ll be able to keep coming back as an android?” Yusaku asked.

“That’s right, my dear _Aibou_ ,” Ai said. “I quite enjoy talking to you like this and in the real world, so the code key is the only way I can maintain this form for a little longer.”

Yusaku couldn’t object to that; he wanted Ai and Roboppy to enjoy their freedom as AIs with free will. If they could only move freely about as a SOL _tiS_ android, then he would lend them his help. “I will do what I can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, ai getting yusaku involved in getting that code key was actually intentional for plot reasons 0:-)  
> next chapter will be pretty fun xD yusaku is going to break into sol's headquarters, but how exactly is he going to do it? :P
> 
> shoutout to jin, lux, and pipedreamprayer for leaving comments!! you guys are so amazing ❤ ❤ ❤  
> also a big thank you to all the new kudos and everyone who (continues to) read this fic~
> 
> (p.s. i created a cover art for fun and stuck it on the page of the first chapter, so you can check it out there)


	5. 00000

Back in his old run-down apartment room, Yusaku pulled an all-nighter on his laptop as he scourged through SOL’s database, trying to locate the pieces of the code key that had been scattered into pieces for further security. He quickly found that only two SOL executives had a piece of the code key: Queen and the new executive director, Zaizen Akira.

After a few more hours of cyber investigation, he decided that the plan was only half as simple as he had originally thought. Yusaku would be able to take the piece of code key from each executive without needing to alert or harm them in person, but he had to find a way to directly extract the code from SOL's main database itself.

How exactly would he achieve that?

Fortunately, the solution hit him the very next morning on his way to school, as he very intently watched a SOL _tiS_ android drive a truck down the street. Yusaku continued to watch the other androids with the same critical look as he walked towards Den City High.

He didn’t even notice Takeru walk up to him.

“Good morning, Yusaku.” His friend gave a small wave and an even smaller smile. That was a given, as Yusaku was aware that it seemed like they had recently been avoiding each other as much as possible. After all, he still didn’t know how he would apprise the truth about Ai taking Takeru’s duel disk without further driving the wedge between their friendship.

“Sorry, but I’m still using your duel disk,” Yusaku finally said to break the uncomfortable silence between them.

“I see…” His friend seemed dubious and ambivalent about the entire situation, and rightfully so. Judging by the subtle pout on his face, it was quite clear that he was holding back from asking a lot of questions. On the other hand, Yusaku knew he couldn’t let his own secret slip.

“I’ll be sure to give it back as soon as I can,” he immediately added in a futile attempt to console, but his words offered little comfort to either of them.

Yusaku could only hope that when the time came, Takeru would forgive him.

 

x

 

At the city plaza that afternoon, he set his plan for that evening into motion. The first step was Kusanagi.

“Hey, Yusaku! What’s up?” his close acquaintance casually greeted him.

“I need to borrow three thousand yen, please,” Yusaku quickly replied. “I promise to work extra hard on my next shifts.”

“Three thousand yen?” Kusanagi looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “Are you finally thinking of buying something for the first time in two years? And you haven’t actually worked here in over a week now. Are you planning on returning?”

Yusaku promptly nodded. “I’ll be returning next week, I promise that.” He wasn’t actually sure about that, but right now he had other priorities. “But right now I have an… urgent matter to tend to first.”

Kusanagi must have seen the look of fierce determination in his eyes because he took out three bills from his apron and placed it into his trusted friend’s hands. “Use it wisely, okay?”

Yusaku muttered his thanks before he turned to run out of the city plaza. He was definitely getting himself into hot waters now, even with his own friends and acquaintances, but all of that seemed trivial when he realized he could not turn his back on Ai.

_Why?_   he thought to himself as he ran.

 

x

 

Yusaku had half-heartedly hoped that it would rain, so that he would have an excuse to delay his plan and give him extra time to think it over, but that evening brought only clear skies with no chance of precipitation. It was the perfect weather to walk to SOL and carry out this cyber crime, but his mind was full of turbulence despite his usual calm and indifferent exterior.

“There isn’t a detection program as people and androids walk in and out of that building all the time,” Yusaku explained to his ‘family’. He took out some glow paint and a glow-in-the-dark diamond accessory, along with some other materials that he had bought earlier that day. He also had a set of used clothes he had purchased from a thrift shop. “All I need to do is disguise myself so I can blend in with the rest of them.”

“If anything, I would expect you, my super stoic _Aibou_ , to be the perfect android.” Ai grinned, and Yusaku felt his heart leap into his throat. It was just another so-called compliment from Ai, but why did he feel so nervous?

“Wow!” Roboppy was in awe at the shiny materials Yusaku had brought with him. “Where did you get these, Master?”

“The dollar store,” Yusaku blankly replied. “I borrowed some money from Kusanagi. It’s simple, but I think it’ll be enough to fool them.”

“You better pay him back, you know,” Ai said, like the know-it-all he was.

Yusaku glared at him. “And who asked me to do this again?”

His partner shrugged. “Anyways, I’ll help you put on your glow paint. I’ve seen these in commercials and always wanted to try them out.”

“No, I can do it myself.”

“I don’t think you’ll do a great job with that.” His partner held out his hand. “Don’t be so stubborn, _Aibou_. You know you want me to do it.”

“Fine.” Yusaku handed over the materials to his partner; the sooner he could get this triviality over with, the better. “Do what you want.”

Ai looked much too proud of himself. “Okay! Hold still.”

It felt indescribably awkward to have his partner, in a human-like form, now be able to lift his chin. He had rarely instigated this kind of contact with another human being, let alone an android who felt more human than most other people. Yusaku felt like he might pass from embarrassment as the heat kept rushing to his face as Ai very diligently applied the paint onto his face; it seemed as though he was already a natural at this despite claiming it to be his first attempt.

Yusaku squeezed his eyes shut. Somehow, there in the dead silence of their secret hideout, it had gotten much too flustering to look at his partner directly in the eye.

Being touched by his closest friend was not supposed to be embarrassing.

 

x

 

Yusaku's disguise was, to say the least, impeccable. The diamond on his neck looked authentic and the glow paint on his face was especially convincing. His cheap blond wig made him look like someone else entirely. He never thought the day he would pretend to be an android would come, but here he was, and steps away from committing the biggest crime in his life as well.

It had only taken them a few minutes to walk to SOL headquarters. The three of them hid behind some bushes, watching and waiting for the majority of the employees to leave the premises. It was past 8 o’clock, and most were taking their leave from office for the night. Yusaku closed his eyes and took a deep breath without consciously meaning to.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?” Ai suddenly asked in that disgustingly sweet voice.

“I do not need you to distract me,” Yusaku retorted, though he knew very well what would happen if his partner came along. Ai would be at further risk of being found than he already was. If he had already gotten to this point with him, then Yusaku was even more determined to leave him out of danger no matter what. “I can get it without your help.”

“If you say so!” Ai responded in a hushed voice; he looked relieved that he didn’t have to step into SOL’s headquarters. “I’ll wait outside for you while you go in and waltz all the way to the top!" He put a hand on Roboppy’s shoulder. “You’ll go with Yusaku, alright? Go get those experience points!”

“Yes, _Aniki_!” Roboppy exclaimed.

When the coast was clear, Roboppy grabbed his master by the arm and made a dash towards SOL in such inhuman speed that Yusaku thought his legs would disintegrate into the wind entirely.

 

x

 

Yusaku had never been inside of SOL headquarters before, but he wasn’t surprised to see it looked just as bleak as the future of the company did. The receptionists had already left the front desks, and one by one the employees inside the building were departing, too.

One SOL _tiS_ android and one pseudo-android had one chance to succeed.

He picked up a broom and dustpan that one of the SOL _tiS_ had presumably left behind. A few minutes later, Roboppy gave him the signal to follow them to the staircase. They had crouched behind a closed reception desk for some time, just observing the mannerisms of the workers there and deciding the best course of action. They were going to avoid as much human contact as possible, and most of the employees here preferred to take the elevators rather than the stairs.

“Master, we are going to Queen’s office first,” Roboppy mouthed as they slowly crept towards the staircase. “Stay behind me, because I’m going to turn off every security camera we come across.”

Yusaku nodded. It was going to be a long trek up to the top by foot, but he was overflowing with confidence and adrenaline as he had already set his heart on this mission. There was no room for him to turn back now, even if he wanted to.

Between the third and fourth floor, he had to stop when a white-collar worker gingerly passed by them, eyeing the two of them suspiciously. Yusaku turned to look out the window and saw Ai still in the same place they’d been; his partner must have seen him or sensed him looking as Yusaku saw him wave.

“How’s it going?” he thought he heard Ai say in the back of his head, but Yusaku ignored it. He told himself that he was simply imagining it as he continued to follow Roboppy up the flights of stairs.

It took them around half an hour and a few minutes of pretending to be working with the other SOL _tiS_ before he and Roboppy finally reached the top floor. By this time, Yusaku had to lean over to catch his breath before he could walk another step. Roboppy wrapped their arms around him to give him a reassuring squeeze.

Fortunately for the two of them, the entire floor where Queen’s office was located was empty. With one swift movement of their hand, Roboppy immediately switched off all the security cameras on that floor.

“In twenty minutes, they'll turn back on,” they whispered to Yusaku as the two of them carefully made their way towards Queen’s office. In that miraculously ghostly manner of their hands, Roboppy cracked the look on the door, found the light switch in the darkness of the office, and allowed Yusaku to step in. The room was red and coruscating, which was a stark contrast to the rest of the building's dull colours. The large red armchair at the far end of the room was unoccupied, but the computer screen was still on and hadn't yet switched to sleep mode. Perhaps someone had been using it earlier, or it had been intentionally left on.

But why? Yusaku moved to quickly check the status of the computer. It seemed as though it had intentionally been left in that state, and that the last recorded performed action was last month. No one had used this computer since then, to which Yusaku found odd.

Regardless, he had to act fast. He had very limited time to obtain Queen’s code key before he would be caught by security. He plugged his USB drive into the system and found that navigation came easy to him. He had written a unique script that allowed him to easily hack into the system without having to input any password nor leaving behind any sign-in history. Kusanagi, an experienced hacker himself, had praised his talents many times, after all, and SOL’s system wasn’t otherworldly complex, either.

Above all, it was thanks to Roboppy’s upgrade that he had been able to come up with new solutions. This was how he was going to repay them… and Ai.

Find and extracting the code key surprisingly took very little time in itself, but Yusaku had suspected something was off to begin with. As he was waiting for the files to transfer from the database to his USB drive, something else in the file collection caught his eye.

**CODE KEY CURRENTLY NOT PROTECTED BY ITS OWNER. QUEEN IN COMA BY UNKNOWN FIGURE.** read the headline, dated about a month ago. It was password-locked, but the title alone piqued Yusaku’s interest and less than a second later, he found himself dragging the file onto his drive as well. He was going to have to hack into the contents of this file later.

Several seconds later, the transfer was done. One down, one to go.

 

x

 

Their timing could not have been better, as Zaizen Akira was preparing to gather his things to leave for the night when Roboppy and Yusaku descended the stairs behind one other SOL _tiS_ android. They could see Zaizen make a gesture to someone as he stepped out of his office, and two bodyguards promptly emerged from the shadows.

Yusaku was just about to make his move when he overheard a security guard on that same floor whisper to someone else. Apparently, they happened to be passing by for their evening patrol. “Did you see that? Zaizen- _ bucho _ has two bodyguards now!”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear?” said the other guard. “There’s a rumour going around that something had happened to Queen, rather than her going on an extended leave as it’s been reported.”

“So, by hiring bodyguards for Zaizen- _bucho_ …?”

“Exactly...” Their voices had trailed off into the distance at this point as Roboppy gave him the signal to proceed. Yusaku slipped into Zaizen’s office and turned on the dimmest light in the room.

“Twenty minutes,” Roboppy whispered once again, and Yusaku nodded in understanding.

Zaizen’s office lacked the vibrant personality that Queen’s did, but there were still some books stacked on his desk. Zaizen probably loved to read, or at least picked it up as a hobby before orafter he had been promoted to executive director. His computer screen was already off, but Yusaku immediately turned it back on before it completely drifted off into sleep mode, which would have shut down the database along with it.

With Roboppy standing guard outside Zaizen’s door, Yusaku took his USB out of his pocket and stuck it into the main computer. Just like he had done with Queen's, he had spent all night writing the script that would bypass the security system for Zaizen's computer, and after thirty seconds, Yusaku was let into the SOL database once again.

_That was easy_ , Yusaku thought to himself. _I’ll be out of here sooner than I expected._

As he was waiting for the files to transfer, he momentarily turned his head to glance out the office window. He couldn’t see Ai from this height, but he still felt his presence all the same. _I hope you’re pleased with yourself,_  he thought to himself, half-hoping that Ai would pick up his message. _I’m committing a crime because of you._ Surely Zaizen would lose his position after this, but that was not nearly enough to waver Yusaku’s determination to seek out the truth.

When he had gotten down to the last few files, Roboppy suddenly poked his head into the office. “Quick, Master! I hear someone coming!” they nervously whispered.

_Forgive me_ , Yusaku thought as his finger moved to click the button that finalized the transfer of Zaizen’s code key between SOL and his USB.

“Done.” He safely removed his USB and exited the main SOL database. Roboppy had grabbed onto Yusaku’s arm just in time and the two of them fled back out just as a security guard passed by the office.

“Hey--! Stop right there!” shouted the guard. "You thieves!" He chased after them while he was on his communication device calling for help. However, Roboppy was much faster as they leaped down the stairs several steps at a time and dodged every upcoming obstacle with lightning speed and insane reflexes, all the while never loosening their grip on Yusaku once.

Perhaps his once personal roomba really saw this as some kind of game, as he seemed to be really enjoying the chase while Yusaku was only awaiting his impending punishment.

Upon hearing a group of guards rush up the stairs towards them, Roboppy escaped out the nearest fire escape chute and the two of them slid down at an even rapider speed. _This is it_ , Yusaku thought to himself as he fell along with Roboppy. _It was nice knowing everyone._ Once he reached the bottom, he would be caught and immediately put behind bars. His 'family' would be taken from him--

He only landed in a pair of arms.

“Let’s get out of here,” came Ai’s voice. With one last dramatic wave of his cape, he brought both Roboppy and Yusaku back to their usual hiding spot in the woods in record time.

“That was really fun,” Roboppy said in a tired voice. “ _Aniki_ , did I do well tonight?”

“You were perfect tonight,” Ai candidly praised Roboppy. “You levelled up twice helping Yusaku out.”

“I’m so glad, _Aniki_ ,” Roboppy smiled before they fell asleep in Ai’s arms. This prompted Yusaku to look away as an unfamiliar but undesirable feeling clung to him.

“As I'd expected, you did great, _Aibou_ ,” Ai said in the most sincere tone Yusaku had ever heard from him -- even from when he was still an Ignis. “I owe you one.”

Yusaku found himself smiling as he fumbled with the USB drive in his pocket. He took off his hideous wig and wiped the paint off his face. He technically didn’t do any running from the guard, but his heart was still racing at a hundred miles an hour. As far as Yusaku knew, no one had ever been close to hacking into SOL’s databases, let alone succeeded in obtaining its code key. If anyone were to find out what had gone down tonight, he would be a grade-A criminal and approaching the same league as the Knights of Hanoi themselves.

His actions tonight brought him back to the time when he was still trying to uncover the details of the Lost Incident. He had learned an abundance of SOL’s top-secret information in the past few years, both as a solitary hacker and from working with Kusanagi, but this was the first time he had gotten this far into criminal territory. Granted, he had not taken anyone’s life, but he had likely cost several people their jobs in that building, all in one night. What would his fellow hacker think of him if he ever found out?

If anything, the taboo was broken. Now that he had committed a crime on this level, could anything stop him from going even further?

 

x

 

According to the password-locked article, Queen had come up with the concept of the SOL _tiS_ almost entirely by herself. LINK VRAINS had been her most popular endorsement by many years, but SOL _tiS_ had been in the works for many years prior to its official release. After LINK VRAINS was officially shut off to the public, she turned all of her attention to the new androids, and everything seemed to be going well for SOL.

However, someone had committed a heinous crime on SOL before Yusaku did tonight.

Queen was so proud of the SOL _tiS_ that she even showed up in person to participate in the advertising campaign held on a yacht around a month ago. It was there that the unthinkable happened. Sometime during that voyage, she was comatosed, and it had apparently been caused by an unknown figure roaming on the yacht that evening. Unfortunately, that was nothing more than an unofficial statement made by the police and other authorities. There had been no formal witness that night, and nothing had been stolen from the company itself.

It had not been confirmed whether or not the culprit had committed the crime as a result of a personal grudge against Queen, but the article ended with a warning to Akira Zaizen, as SOL feared that he would be the next target.

_Those two security guards were right_ , Yusaku thought, remembering their conversation from earlier. But who would try to attack the new executive director? After all, Zaizen was a far more likeable character than Queen. At the same time, who was bold enough to target Queen, the most powerful figure in SOL?

That was another question that continued to stump him, as there were many candidates that came to mind but none could be proven guilty. Nevertheless, Yusaku added this mystery to his ever-growing list, but on the bright side, he felt like he was finally uncovering the mystery surrounding Ai. After all, he had mentioned that he liked having a human form to talk to him.

Perhaps he would finally be able to confirm his thoughts after he pieced the code key together. Yusaku’s heart leapt in excitement at this; if what Ai said turned out to be true, then he would personally make sure that they would never leave him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to everyone who's been keeping up with canon; well, we all know who put queen in a coma...
> 
> shoutout to kiri, fanficfemale, and jin for the comments!! you guys are the best ❤ ❤ ❤  
> also thanks to all the new kudos and everyone else who continues to read this fic!
> 
> p.s. fanficfemale wrote a fic called [staying connected](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19297660) and cited this one as inspiration! it's amazing so far and you all should definitely go check it out~ ❤


	6. 000000

The shock of committing a crime to this degree hadn’t settled in until several days later.

Since then, Yusaku was still repeating the details of the incident in his head like a broken record, but the more he convinced himself that he had done this for Ai’s sake, the more he didn’t believe it. Furthermore, the article about Queen in a coma had him thinking for days on end; it was on his mind from day to night, and from the minute he was awake to the moment he fell back asleep. Sometimes his intuition made him feel like he knew who the culprit was, but he would quickly revert back to not knowing. Yusaku hated that; he desperately wanted to know the truth, as this was why he had gotten himself involved in the first place.

And he would not stop until he held that truth in his hands.

Walking to the city plaza everyday after school seemed like a chore now, but Yusaku did it out of habit anyway. He was getting ready to leave the plaza one late afternoon when Kusanagi suddenly pulled him aside.

“Yusaku, is everything alright? You’ve been acting strange lately.” His close acquaintance furrowed his eyebrows together. “If there’s anything I can do, please-”

“There is nothing wrong,” Yusaku firmly stated, his voice unwavering. Kusanagi’s worried eyes bored onto him but even his concerned expression had no influence over him. After all, Yusaku wasn’t sure if he himself belonged here anymore. Café Nagi and the city plaza had served as his second home for two years and even though he still cared about Kusanagi and all the good times he shared with his fellow hacker, none of that was going to make him stay now.

“Also, I’ve decided that I will not work at Café Nagi anymore. I’m sorry, Kusanagi- _san_.” Shrugging off Kusanagi’s grip, Yusaku walked off without either of them exchanging another word.

 

x

 

Piecing together the code key was more difficult than Yusaku had thought. It had taken him several nights of him sitting under the dim light of his apartment room writing, testing, and rewriting code. Nearly a week had passed since he had trespassed into SOL’s headquarters but he had only managed to graze the surface of this self-proclaimed mission. Even then, he was not going to stop even if it was going to take him multiple all-nighters.

He continued to meet up with his ‘family’ day after day, but he spent most of his time there working. He would have continued working at home but his need to see his companions was increasing by the day. Yusaku actually felt like he had a reason to take his work and leave his home now.

And above all, he wanted to see Ai.

“What’s up?” Ai asked him one late evening as he was still working on the code that would bridge the two code key pieces. “You have been working on that for a while; might you need my help, after all?”

“No.” Yusaku refused; he wanted to prove that he was capable, and that his intelligence could rival an AI as he pressed to challenge the limitations of his human brain. 

“...Fine.” Ai huffed and moved away. In the darkness of the forest, Yusaku thought that he saw his partner disappear into the shadows. Either way, he was glad to return to peace and quiet as he continued to search his brain for the answers to solve this tantalizing problem.

Then, his fingers moved to click open the secret article concerning Queen’s coma that he had saved. It wasn’t likely, but maybe rereading the article for the umpteenth time would give him a clue.

Yusaku suddenly felt Ai looking over his shoulder again. He instinctively flipped down his screen, but it was too late; Ai already saw what he was looking at.

“Look what we have here!” his partner exclaimed in amusement. “Someone actually had the guts to knock out their top executive!” He ended up whispering the last few words in the unlikely case that someone would overhear.

“Yeah,” Yusaku agreed. Queen was the only top executive who was targeted that night, and it appeared that the crime hadn’t been committed for mere financial gain. After all, they didn’t take the valuable assets in the database. All of these files could easily have been sold for up to several million each.

What was the culprit’s true motive? Was it nothing more than a personal grudge? If so, who could have done it, and in such a daredevil fashion? The question had plagued his mind for consecutive days now.

Yusaku turned to ask Ai what his partner thought about it, but he seemed to have moved on to messing around with Roboppy. It seemed like Ai simply wasn’t interested in what was going on with SOL’s top executives. That made sense, too; after all, the Ignis didn’t actually need to care about capitalist corporation matters in this world.

Still, it would be a matter of time before this information would be leaked to the citizens and potentially cause a major panic. An uprising could even thwart Ai’s plan, in which Yusaku was determined to find out.

He closed his laptop with a sigh and watched Ai and Roboppy play some sort of game. They appeared to be guessing at each other’s thoughts at the moment using their supposed telepathic powers, and Yusaku could only deduce that this was a game only artificially intelligent androids with free will could play and understand.

He felt a pang of sadness then. He had always been comfortable being alone and understood his limitations as a human in every situation, but somehow something never felt quite right.

Tonight made that especially clear in that regard.

Yusaku turned back to his laptop, its faint glow providing his only source of sympathy in the dark. He tried to think back to SOL’s predicament, just to take his mind elsewhere, though the feelings buried deep within himself continued forcing themselves onto the surface while he continued to suppress them to the best of his ability.

A few moments later, he slammed his laptop shut. He would never be able to be truly fit in with his two friends he called family. Would he try to live with the knowledge that he would always be excluded for the rest of his life?

He watched as Roboppy tried climbing onto Ai’s shoulders, as they laughed together. They both seemed to have forgotten Yusaku was still there with them, so he packed up his things and quietly slipped out of the woods.

There were times he believed that they didn’t really need someone like him around.

 

x

 

Yusaku had half-hoped that Ai would sense his dejection the previous night when they met up again, but Ai didn’t seem to notice anything was off. 

But his partner had always been full of surprises.

“Oh, don’t bother with that tonight.” Ai casually stopped Yusaku from taking out his laptop from his bag. “We just want you to hang out with us. Roboppy should be here any time now.” As if on cue, Roboppy appeared out of the darkness with a huge smile on their face.

“The coast is clear, _Aniki_. Please come too, Master!” Without another word, they skipped out of the woods, with Ai closely behind. Yusaku hadn’t the slightest clue where they were going, but he knew he trusted them both.

Roboppy led them down an old abandoned path. Yusaku took a good look at his surroundings, for he had never known something like this existed in all his years of living in Den City.

At the same time, something about it was familiar, like he had been in this area before at least once, many years ago.

“There it is!” Roboppy began running up to a clearing in the woods; the sea of stars above them seemed to shine even brighter here. When Yusaku got up there himself, a flash of painful memories whizzed by him, stopping him in his tracks completely. So much had changed that it was almost unrecognizable, but he could not forget the emotions this place gave him.

This was the facility where the Lost Incident had snuffed out his innocence and ultimately changed his life forever. It was a place that he didn’t want to remember, but couldn’t bring himself to completely forget, either.

“Why did we come here?” Yusaku asked aloud to no one, and Roboppy turned around.

“I really like the view here,” they responded to his rhetorical question, snapping Yusaku back to reality. “Why, Master? You don’t like it?”

Yusaku hesitated.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Ai said, prompting Yusaku to look at him. “We came here to revisit our past. It’s where I was born in this world, anyhow.”

Yusaku frowned. "As for me, this place is nothing but pain and sorrow. So many things happened here but I can still remember every second of it. It may have happened ten years ago but the effect it had on me lives on forever."

“My comrades were born here as well, but now they’re gone, so now this place gives me pain as well.” Ai furrowed his eyebrows and looked further deep in thought. “And with pain comes newfound determination to right the wrong. I feel like I can finally understand you, Yusaku.”

Yusaku cocked his head, wondering what exactly his partner meant by this. Then a sudden gust of wind rushed past him, so strong it almost swept him off his feet.

“Are you cold?” Ai asked him. 

Yusaku shook his head again, though his body must have been visibly trembling. Before he knew what was happening, warmth suddenly wrapped itself around him; Ai had taken off his cape and draped it around his shoulders instead.

“This should do it.”

Yusaku felt heat rush to his face as he huddled closer; he could still feel Ai’s warmth on the cape itself. He didn’t know androids could generate body heat, but then Takeru had told him that this was no ordinary android. This was a SOL _tiS_ that had many human-like features, and for a moment Yusaku’s mind drifted into another place, as he wondered how it would feel if he himself touched Ai.

But he quickly snapped out of that thought.

After the three of them basked under the moonlight for some time, they were about to leave when Yusaku spoke up again. “I want to stay here a little longer,” he admitted. “I… also like the view here.”

Ai was right; revisiting old wounds etched with pain and turning it into strength had reshaped his perception of this place. The bird was beating its wings against the dissolving metal of the cage, and soon he’ll be free.

He wasn’t quite there yet, but it felt like freedom was already in his grasp.

And if this was a glimpse into the future, in this very spot where he could admire such beautiful scenery with his family, then Yusaku swore he would never ask for anything else again.

 

x

 

A few more days had passed; sometimes they sat in silence in the they returned to enjoy the view of the starlit evening sky where the facility had once stood. Yusaku admitted that he liked spending time with Ai and Roboppy, in a way that was different from him spending time with either Kusanagi and Takeru. He was even willing to partake in the activities they suggested more and more.

In a way, he found himself becoming like them. He sympathized with their woes, and he shared their ambitions; the only difference was that he was human, but how would that stop him from thinking otherwise?

It was also much different from when they were still his hostage and his personal roomba respectively. They both used to be nuisances, with the way they would get on his nerves with soap operas and then beg him to watch with them, but now it was as if he depended on their company.

He wanted to be with them. He wanted to be with his partner.

It was strange how the tables would come to turn that way, but a part of Yusaku still missed how it used to be. At least, back then, he didn’t get an uncomfortable bundle of butterflies in his stomach whenever he would look at Ai and find him looking back, too. 

And recently, his heart would start beating just a little faster with each time they met up.

“So you finally managed to do it.” Ai said when they met up again one evening in their usual hideout. He didn’t specify, but he was obviously referring to the combined pieces of the code key he had stolen from SOL.

Yusaku nodded, pride swelling up in his chest. He pulled out a small USB from his coat jacket and handed it over to Ai. “I already made a copy of it before coming here.”

“Thanks again for your help, Yusaku,” Ai said, in a strangely soft tone Yusaku had never heard him use before. “You’ve done great work again, just as I’ve always expected from my _Aibou_.”

Roboppy cheerfully agreed. “That is my Master!”

“In order to express my gratitude more deeply, here’s a humble gift from me to you.” Ai reached into his coat to pull out a small purple rose. “It’s my way of expressing my love for you.”

At that moment, Yusaku felt like all the breath had been sucked out of him. He could only stare at Ai, then down at the rose; it seemed to stare right back at him with an even greater intensity. Its colour was actually a deep reddish-purple, and each of its petals were almost too perfect for its own good.

He never saw anything more hideous, but then, he never had a penchant for appreciating these kinds of gifts. When was the last time anyone thought about gifting him, the lone wolf Fujiki Yusaku, a flower?

“Please accept _Aniki_ ’s token of love, Master!” Roboppy exclaimed, waving their arms around in excitement. 

There was that dreadful word again; the one word that was making his hands tremble and his knees weak. Yusaku forcibly snatched the rose from Ai’s hand. “I will take it this one time,” he said. “But I won’t accept anything like this again.”

Then he turned and ran without glancing back.

 

x

 

Once Yusaku got home, he carelessly tossed the rose onto his desk, next to his duel disk. He had been with android Ai and Roboppy for quite some time now, and he came to learn things from them he never thought was possible when they still took the shape of non-humanoids. He saw them as his ‘family’ and never thought of them as androids being controlled by artificial intelligence.

They felt perfectly human to him, starting from their increased daily interactions to them watching the stars together at night. Yusaku’s world revolved around them now.

Yet what Ai mentioned about love continued to bother him on multiple levels, in a way he’d never actually felt before. His heart beat had finally slowed, but for anything to insinuate that he would even think of an android, over the seven plus billion humans on this Earth, of anything more than a friend was blasphemous. There was no way that would ever happen, the main reason being he had already convinced himself that he was wholly incapable of love.

And to top it off, Ai had given him this horrendous rose. _Him and his stupid soap operas._ That must have been where he got these equally stupid ideas from.

Yusaku flopped onto his bed and turned his back to the desk, trying to wipe out the events of the day from his mind. He then pulled the covers over his head, but he still felt its presence boring its image into his head. The wave of emotions he kept getting from that thing staring at him with its invisible eyes wouldn’t stop, no matter how he wanted them to.

He suddenly leapt out of bed, grabbed the rose, and shoved it into the far corner of one of his cluttered drawers.

With that out of sight, he instantly felt much better.

 

x

 

“You’ve returned, Yusaku,” Ai said to him in his dream that night. He was sitting on his throne as he always did, hands folded across his lap and his cape neatly draped over the hand rests. 

Yusaku slowly walked his way up the aisle to the stage to where Ai was sitting on his throne, his heart pace quickening with his every step. As he reached his partner, he suddenly felt very small. Unconsciously, he got down on one knee; it was a sudden action that seemed much too out of character for someone like him, yet in this particular dream he was unable to control himself.

“What do you want me to do next, Ai?” he asked, though it came out sounding dazed and like it didn’t originate from his own mouth.

“You’ve done well, Yusaku,” Ai said. “But I haven’t got anything for you to do right now.”

This seemed to stir a fiery emotion from inside Yusaku. Feeling like he broke away from invisible chains, he leapt onto the stage and grabbed Ai by his collar. “Tell me what I’m supposed to do next,” he hissed in a low voice. “You and I have come all the way here and I will not take nothing for an answer.”

“Is that so?” Ai smirked. “If you’re so eager to do something, why don’t you decide?” He released himself from Yusaku’s grip. “You tell me what you want to do and I’ll bite.”

“I…” Yusaku was temporarily thrown off guard; he was not expecting to get this kind of response. “I only want to get to know you better,” he quietly admitted. “And why you came back. I need to know your reasons.”

“Well, I guess you could say I came back for you,” Ai said. “I missed my dear _Aibou_. We did spend a lot of time together, you know.”

Before another thought could cross his mind, or for the reality of the matter to kick in, Yusaku pulled his partner into a tight embrace. “I missed you, too,” he murmured onto Ai’s shoulder. “More than I could even say.”

“How much is that, I wonder?” Ai pressed. “You can tell me, you know. There’s no need to be shy.”

“I’ll tell you, but only after you tell me how much you missed me, too,” Yusaku boldly replied. It only took him a moment for him to realize what he had just said, but he could not take any of it back now.

Time seemed to stop as he felt the space between him and Ai close, and Ai’s slender fingers were cupping his face as he leaned in. Their lips touched, and Yusaku unconsciously wrapped his arms around Ai as he felt his own heart burst with an intense passion and yearning for more.

He had always been sensitive to anyone touching him, but oddly enough, he didn’t try to object Ai’s advances on him. Perhaps it was because he knew he was dreaming and he didn’t care as much as he normally would, but he was still, strangely enough, enjoying every second of it.

There, in his dream, on a grandiose stage with no one else watching them, Yusaku explored Ai’s mouth, their tongues dancing in curiosity of each other’s, their fingers roughly grasping at each other’s clothes there in the ever increasing heat of their secret rendezvous. His partner was greedy and Yusaku gave himself up all to him, obedient and in complete compliance to his every need.

Just as Ai pinned him to the ground, the dream abruptly ended and Yusaku woke up, startled and his mind still clouded over in a haze. His heart was racing at a hundred miles an hour as it threatened to beat straight out of his chest. 

_What even happened just now?_

He took several deep breaths, but his heart continued to pound like mad. “Stop,” he called out to the darkness, attempting to steady his voice. “Stop it right now.”

He didn’t dare sleep another wink in fear that he would be forced to return to something so horrifyingly foreign. He could still feel the ghostly touches of where Ai’s hands had been on his body, and the memory of that intimacy alone was too much for him to acknowledge, let alone accept that he had agreed to it in a dream he didn’t even feel like was his. 

“Don’t ever touch me like that again,” Yusaku angrily whispered into the dark, “... Ai.”

His heart rate hadn’t yet returned to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vrains is ending very soon, but i haven't forgotten about this story.
> 
> apologies about my absence, but the only reasons i can provide are work, school, and lack of motivation.  
> i can't promise that there will be a consistent updating schedule as my motivation is all over the place.  
> i had absolutely no intention to write the rest of this chapter until two or so hours ago.  
> so while i may not be able to finish this story as i had originally planned, i will still try my best :)
> 
> lastly, shoutout to leah, my_ace_is_raye, chyme, lux_veritatis, and ghostkid33!!  
> i'm very grateful for all your wonderfully amazing comments last chapter ❤ ❤ ❤  
> also, thanks to everyone for all the new kudos and subscriptions!!


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